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Online post suggests missing Quebec student may be in Algeria

MONTREAL—In the first sign of life since he is believed to have fled Canada for life as an Islamic fighter earlier this year, one young Quebecer is now apparently identifying himself as a “soldier of the caliphate.”

It’s the first public activity that Imad Rafai, a former Montreal junior college student, has engaged in since he and six others, including two girls, disappeared suddenly from their Montreal homes in mid-January. Authorities had believed they planned to fly to Turkey and cross the border into Syria to join the ranks of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, which is a designated terror group and the target of a Canadian and coalition bombing campaign.